Vacuum cleaning system.



F. J. MATCHETTE & R. RADDATZ.

VACUUM CLEANINGSYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 2, I905.

1,150,950. I Patented Aug. 24,1915.

FRANK J. MATGHETTE AND RICHARD RADDATZ, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN,

ASSIGNORS, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO RICHMOND RADIATOR COMPANY, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

VACUUM CLEANING SYSTEM.

madoao.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug. 2%, 1915.

Application filed March 2, 1905. Serial No. 248,106.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, FRANK J. MATCH- ETTE and RICHARD RADDATZ, both of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, have invented a Vacuum Cleaning System, (Case 56,) of which the following is a specification.

Our present invention relates to apparatus designed for use with what are known as vacuum cleaners, which serve to remove dust and dirt from surfaces such as carpets, furniture and the like, by drawing air through orifices which are juxtaposed to the surfaces to be cleaned, the dust-laden air being thence drawn into a pipe or system of pipes and suitably disposed of.

More particularly our invention relates to a manner of disposing of and utilizing the air and dust discharged from the system in an advantageous manner.

Heretofore for the operation of a cleaning system of this sort it has been considered necessary to have a special vacuum-pump which consumed much steam, and therefore required also a larger boiler than would otherwise be required. Now, the application of this system is in many cases made to houses already built and supplied with a boiler, without the necessity of installing a special vacuum-pump the expense of which acts as a deterrent to the use of a vacuum cleaning system; and without the necessity of replacing the existing boiler by a new and larger one; Moreover with such a pump it is practically necessary to eliminate all the dust before the air reaches the pump in order that the action of the pump may not be disturbed by an accumulation of dust or grit in the cylinder or valves; and the complete separation of the dust from the air makes necessary the insertion of a very perfect dust-collector between the system and the pump. Furthermore the insertion of such an apparatus necessitates a considerable increase in the vacuum maintained by the pump for the purpose of overcoming the additional resistance of said dust-collector, and will greatly impair the efficiency of the system if a high vacuum is used; for it is well known that every additional inch of vacuum requires a largely increased amount of work to move a given volume of air.

It is the object of our present invention to so simplify the apparatus necessary to the maintenance of the vacuum in the cleaning system that it may be applied to existing house plants without any increase in the boiler capacity already installed, and to dispense with costly apparatus so as to bring the cost of installation to a more reasonable figure, as well as to increase the economy and efliciency of the system.

A further object of our invention is to render more practicable the application of vacuum cleaning to portable systems, wherein the entire plant is mounted on a vehicle and carried about from place to place, by decreasing the weight of apparatus necessary to afford the capacity for a plant of a given weight.

Our invention consists of the constructions and combinations which will hereinafter be described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

\Ve have illustrated in the accompanying. drawings our invention as applied first to a stationary or house-plant, and second to a portable cleaning-plant; and in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, showing a stationary plan; and Fig. 2 a side elevation, partly in section, showing the construction for a portable plant.

In Fig. 1, (1 represents a piping-system having branches a and taps a in the different apartments and on the several floors of the house whose general structure is indicated at b, said taps a adapted for the attachment of vacuum-cleaners, that is, tubular apparatus having an orifice which is adapted to be juxtaposed to a surface to be cleaned, and into which the air and dust are drawn and carried thence into the pipingsystem by means of a vacuum produced in said system by means which will be hereinafter described. At some point in the house, usually in the basement thereof, there will be a steam-boiler c which we have shown as of conventional pattern, mounted in a bricksetting 0? and having a smoke stack or exhaust-flue e. Below the boiler c is a furnace. comprising a grate f, a combustion-chamber g, and an ash-pit h. At the rear of the grate f is abridge-wall 7. At z is shown the steam-pipe leading from the boiler to the engine or house-heating system, or to any other distributing apparatus. There is also ledfrom the boiler 0 a separate steampipe 7', which leads'to an ejector or aspirator is located in the piping-system a, that is, in the educt pipe Z thereof. Between the piping-system a and aspirator k is preferably but not necessarily placed a dust-separator or collector m, which is for the purpose of removing from the air the heavier and bulkier dust particles, so as to prevent them from clogging up the aspirator. The steam-pipe y' may have a valve j therein, and a pressure regulator j which is controlled by a diaphragm or like device indicated at one side of which is connected by a pipe 7' to any point in the pipe-system a, so that the device i is acted on by the pressure in said system to regulate the flow of steam in the pipe 7', and increase said flow in proportion as the vacuum falls. This regulating device does not form a part of our present invention.

The exhaust k of the ejector discharges in Fig. 1 into a secondary dust-separator n, which removes additional particles of dust, that is to say, some of the dust not removed by the preliminary dust-separator m, if the latter is used. This separator is supposed to collect the dust in its lower portion 11 and at its lowerend is attached a blastnozzle 0 having a valve 0, said blast-nozzle passing through the face-wall of the boilersetting and being directed against the current of gases arising from the grate f as shown, where any remaining dust is burned and the injected air aids the combustion. From the upper end of the separator 10. leads another pipe 9 having a valve 9 therein, and a three-way cook 9 one branch of which has an exhaust-nozzle g which is introduced as indicated into the stack e of the boiler to produce a draft therein, while the other branch has a blast-nozzle 9 attached thereto which is introduced into any ventilation duct or waste-conduit 1- to produce a draft therein.

At another point on the dust-collector 71., preferably so selected that the dust does not flow into it, is attached a pipe 8 in which is located a valve 8 and a three-way cock 8,

- one branch of which, 8 has a draft-pipe leading and discharging into the ash-pit h as shown, while the other branch is connected to any heating device or system, such as a feed-water heater, condenser or househeating system, represented symbolically by a radiator t. r

The apparatus thus far described may be operated in several different ways. If it be desired to discharge the exhaust from the ejector is directly into the boiler-system, the valves 9 and s are closed and the valve 7) is open, whereby the mingled air, steam and dust constituting the exhaust are directed into the fire-gases and accelerate the combustion thereof, at the same time increasing the rate of combustion, and therefore the capacity of the boiler c, and further adding to the fuel the dust which is blown through the system and disposing of said dust in an innocuous manner. Or 1f desired the valve p may be closed and the valve 9 opened,

waste conduit 1-, according to the position of the cock 9 Or on the other hand, by closing the valves 2 and g and opening the valve 8 the exhaust purified air and steam may be thrown under the grate f,

thus acting to cool the grate-bars, soften g0 clinkers, aid combustion, etc. Or should the valve 8 be thrown in the opposite direction, the exhaust passes into the heater or heating-system t and is utilized for heating after performing its work in the aspirator, 5

thus making it possible to heat the house and operate the cleaning system with the same capacity of boiler that would be otherwise required to heat the house alone. During the operation of the collector n, the dust 9 is discharged from time to time by opening the valve 79.

In Fig. 2 we have shown a typical vertical boiler 0 having an internal fire-box g ,1

an ash-pit h; fire-tubes u, and a stack 6'.

The vacuum piping-system is represented by the flexible hose a to which a cleaner is attached and which is carried into the house or to the place where the cleaning is to be done, said hose a being preferably connected to a dust-collector m, from which an educt pipe Z leads to an aspirator 7:, which is supplied with steam from the boiler by a pipe j having valves j and a regulator j all as previously described. In this case we 1 5 have omitted the dust-collector n, and instead thereof have attached to the exhaustpipe 10 of the aspirator a three-way cock v having branch pipes v and 0 the former of which is introduced into the stack 6, and

forms an exhaust-nozzle g as previously described; while the pipe 0 leads toa threeway cock w having branch-pipes a: and y' discharging respectively into the fire-box and ash-pit of the boiler. pipes may have a cone m 3 for the purpose of drawing inadditional air with the blast if desirable.

The operation of iihis form of our invention is similar to that already described, the

combined air, steam and dust being dis charged either into the ash-pit, fire-box or stack of the boiler, as found desirable for producing the proper combustion thereof.

The dust-collector m may be in this case arranged to completely remove the dust, or at least so much thereof as would be objectionable if discharged into the open air.

\Ve believe that the above description will' make it clear that our invention is capable Each of these 115 of considerable modification in the form and arrangement of the parts, some of which may be omitted, and hence we do not limit ourselves to specific constructions further than is indicated by the scope of our claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a vacuum cleaning-system, in combination, a piping-system having means for attachment to a vacuum cleaner, a steam ejector or aspirator in communication with a pressure supply and adapted to draw air and dust through said system, a steamgencrator, including a furnace, adapted to supply steam to said aspirator for operating it, a dust-collector into which said aspirator discharges and which serves to remove the dustfrom the air discharged therein, a discharge-pipe leading from that portion of said collector in which the dust collects and discharging upon the grate in said furnace, whereby the dust collected in said collector may be discharged upon said grate, means for controlling said discharge pipe, and an independent exhaust-duct adapted to discharge the air or steam from said dust-collector.

2. In a vacuum cleaning-system, in combination, a piping-system having means for attachment to a vacuum cleaner, a steam aspirator connected in said system. and adapted to draw air and dust therefrom, a

preliminary dust-collector in said system between the intake thereof and said aspirator, a steam-generator arranged to supply steam to said aspirator, a final dust-separator into which said aspirator discharges, and a dust-discharge from, said collector into thefurnace of said steam-generator.

3. In-a vacuum cleaning-system, in combination, a piping-system havingmeans for attachment to a vacuum cleaner, an aspirator in communication with a pressure supply to actuate the same and adapted to draw air and dust therethrough, a dust-separator mounted in said system in advance 'of said aspirator, a furnace and a boiler from which steam is supplied to the aspirator, and a pipe for conducting the exhaust of said aspirator into the draft-passage of said furnace.

4. In a vacuum cleaning-system, in combination, a piping-system having means for attachment to a vacuum cleaner, an aspirator in communication with a pressure supply to actuate the same and adapted to draw air and dust therethrough, a dust-separator mounted in'said system in advance of said aspirator, a furnace and boiler from which steam is supplied to the aspirator, a series of discharge-pipes conducting the exhaust of said aspirator into the draft-passage of said furnace, in combination with a final dust-collector interposed between said aspirator and said branch-pipes, and a dustdischarge from said collector into the furnace of said boiler.

5-. In a vacuum cleaning-system, in combination, a pi'pingsystem having means for attachment to a vacuum cleaner, a steamejector or aspirator adapted to draw air and dust through said system, a steam-generator, including a furnace, adapted to supply steam to said aspirator for operating it, a dustcollector into which said aspirator dis charges and which serves to remove the dust from the air discharged therein, and a discharge-pipe leading from that portion of said collector in which the dust collects and discharging upon the grate in said furnace, whereby the dust collected in said collector may be discharged upon said grate.

6. In a vacuum cleaning-system, means a for producing a vacuum therein, a furnace including its combustion chamber and stack, a ventilating duct, a heating system, and a piping-system having means for attachment to a Vacuum cleaner, a dust-collector in communication with the piping-system, and a plurality of valve controlled discharge pipes leading from the dust collector and adapted to discharge respectively into the furnace stack, the ventilating duct, the heating system, and the combustion chamber of the furnace whereby air from the dust collector may be distributed to the various parts defined, substantially as described.

7. In a vacuum cleaning-system, a furnace, a preliminary dust separator, an aspirator in communication therewith, a regulating means for said aspirator, a series of discharge pipes in operative communication with the aspirator whereby the air may be distributed to various parts of the furnace, and controlling means in said discharge pipesfor directing the discharge of air to any desired part of said furnace, substantially as .described.

8. In a vacuum cleaning-system, a preliminary separator, an aspirator in communication with said separator for producing vacuum in the system, a secondary separator into which said aspirator discharges, a furnace including a stack, 'a ventilating duct, a heating system, a series, of discharge pipes leading from the last named separator to distribute the ai therefrom into said stack, ventilating due heating system and a combustion chamber of the furnace, means for regulating and directing the discharge of each of the series of discharge pipes, substantially as described.

9. In a vacuum cleaning-system, means for producing vacuum therein, a furnace and its stack, a ventilating duct, a heating system, a piping system having means for attachment to a vacuum cleaner, a dust separator in communication with the piping system, a series of discharge pipes leading from the dust separator and adapted to distribute the air therefrom respectively into the furnace stack, ventilating duct, heating system, or combustion chamber of the furnace, and means for controlling each of said series of pipes for directing the discharge to the point desired, substantially as described.

10. In a vacuum cleaning system, the combination of a furnace and its stack, a boiler associated with said furnace, a preliminary dust separator, automatically controlled vacuum producing means operatively connected with the boiler of the furnace, a ventilating duct, a heating system, a series of discharge pipes connected with the vacuum producing means adapted to distribute air therefrom into said stack, ventilating duct, heating system and combustion chamber of the furnace, and means controlling the discharge from said pipes whereby said discharge may be directed selectively beneath or above the grate of the furnace or into the stack thereof or into the ventilating duct or to the heating system, substantially as described.

11. In a vacuum cleaning system, means for producing vacuum therein, a furnace ventilating duct, a heating system, a preliminary dust separator, a series of discharge pipes connecting with said separator and adapted to discharge into said furnace, ventilating duct and heating system, and means for controlling said discharge pipes to direct the discharge to the. desired part 'of the system, substantiallyas described.

In testimony whereof, We have hereunto set our hands this 28th day of February,

FRAN K J. MATCI-IETTE. RICHARD RADDATZ. Attest:

GEORGE W. COLLES, GERTRUDE M. REGAN. 

